Terrorists misinterpret Islam: Egypt grand mufti

New Delhi, Jan 12 (Agencies): The grand mufti of Egypt - an African country with a 90 per cent Muslim population - has raised his voice against global terror, saying its root cause is ignorance and misinterpretation of Islam.

"Those who are involved in terror activities justify this heinous crime by misinterpreting religion and its holy book. They issue fatwas on their own for their vested interests," Sheikh Ali Goma'a, the grand mufti of Egypt, said here.

He was delivering a lecture organised by the Centre for Indo-Arab Culture at the Jamia Millia Islamia university Tuesday. Goma'a, who is also ex-professor at Al-Azhar University of Cairo, Egypt, is on a five-day visit to India.

Reciting the first verses of the holy Quran, he emphasised the importance of education in Islam. He said Islam encouraged not only religious but also modern education.

"There is no conflict between modern science and Islam," said Goma'a. "We have two books to read, first the universe and second the Quran."

Going back in history, he pointed out that Islam welcomed all scholars such as Al-Beruni and Ibne Sina and accepted their theories because they presented their theories after minutely studying the holy Quran.

But contrary to this, the Western world couldn't accept Galileo and Copernicus who came forward with their theories on astronomy.